Hawaii Vacation Plans

Sitting on the beach for 12 days would be fun, but doing something adventurous seems appealing as well. There's this one volcano on The Big Island called Mauna Loa which is the largest volcano in the world, and also one of the most active, and there is this to-die-for (figuratively, I hope) 19 mile hike to the summit on the Hilo side of the island. We'd have to fly out there the day before and start the hike early, early the following morning. The idea is to make it up to the cabin, near the summit (13,500+ ft) before the sun goes down.

Tickets from O'ahu to Hawai'i run $46. A room at a hotel is about $50. The hiking pass is free. The pictures would be priceless. And the hiking gear (sub-zero sleeping bags, large backpack, water purification tablets, head lamps, sunglasses, first aid kit, etc.) would be about $1000.

I don't think this one lava picture is on the hike ... but, the picture is so neat. I think that after this hike, I'd be content to spend the rest of the vacation doing as little as possible on the beach. And here's a link to some satellite imagery of the volcano on Google Maps.